What to say about the High Cascade 100?  Not really sure.  Still cooked from walking an est. 22 miles.  It was too early to think straight and I left me "running" shoes on instead on putting on my hiking boots.  Now my feet are in revolt.  It wasn't enough to be eaten by the mosquito, attacked by some ants for standing in the wrong place but the a grouse decided it didn't like us too. 

"As a bird to be hunted and eaten, the blue grouse is very tasty, having a wild flavor and yet tender and dry, not greasy like ducks and other water fowl. Of course, before you will ever get the chance to find out just how good eating these birds are, you will have to find one or more and bag them and knowing just where to look is a good place to start." - John Traveler

Well the joke is on that grouse.  Sept. 1st is opening season on grouse and I know where to look for one. 

Oh, what?  This isn't a hiking blog or a hunting blog?  Sorry about that.  Still a bit delirious from the 25 work day on Saturday.

You couldn't tell that this was the second year of the the High Cascade 100.  Mudslinger Events puts on excellent events and this is no different.  We talked with lots of racers from all over this weekend and they were happy with the quality of the event and the caliber of racers. 

Now down to business. Here are:

All of our photos from the day

Gallery of Highlights

Are those tears of happiness or tears of pain? Oh wait, there are no excess fluids for tears.

This was our second year covering the Cascade Cream Puff and once again it was a very long day.  Up at 4 am and bed at 1 am.  Last year was wet and cold, this year was dry and hot.  This year records were broken for course time and the percentage of finishers. 

There were racers from all over North America and the world.  Rumor has it that one racer came from Australia.  There were teams that came from Jackson Hole, Vancouver B.C., Boise and many other locations.  We chatted with some of these teams and found out that they traveled around the Northwest to endurance events.  Many of them felt that the Cream Puff is the best there is.  They credited Scott and his team of volunteers for making such a great event.  We also chatted with many of Oregon's homegrown riders and they felt that Oakridge offers some of the best trails in the state. 

Thank you to everyone for the fun.  Also thank you to Scott for sponsoring us at the event.  Due to his sponsorship, our medium resolution digital images are free to use.  For those of you that are first time visitors, that means find your photos here and click on the 'download original' link at the bottom right hand corner of the photo.  You can use the photo for non-commercial use.  Use it on your blog, facebook, team webstie, etc...  If you are a regular here, you will notice that the digital image grew from 900 px on the long edge to 1080 px. 

Hopefully we will see you all next year, if not sooner.

All our photos

Galleray of highlights

Some photos from Todd Bosworth

The 2010 Test of Endurance was another classic race put on by Mudslinger Events.  Going into the morning of the race the course conditions were near perfect.  A half hour into the race, Mother Nature decided to water her yard and make the sweet single track slick as snot.  It didn't matter whether you were walking or riding, you were going to slip and fall.  Nonetheless, the weather wasn't going to hamper a great race or any of the fun. 

This year seemed to be a special year.  It wasn't one thing that made it special but many.  I believe this year had the largest turn out; also the best turn out of pro riders, both young and old; additionally there was a large amount of out-of-state riders.  The TOE was also part of the Kenda CUP.  Lastly, a person is alive today because of the race.  One of the locals had a fire and a heart attack and due to the quick thinking and observation skills of one of the people attending the race, aid was immediately brought to the scene to help.  As luck would have it, that person was also an EMT.  Our prayers go out to that resident for a full and speedy recovery.

That all being said our photos have been posted.  Thanks to Mudslinger Events and Instaprint for the sponsorship.  Their generosity means that you get the medium resolution images free to use.  Just click on the 'download original' link at the bottom right hand corner of each photo. 

Gallery of Highlights

All Photos from the race

The Cascade Cream Puff is one of the toughest 100 mile mountain bike races in the nation.  Until recently when the registration limit was increased it use to sell out in a matter of days.  It is still a guaranteed sell out but more people are able to celebrate it every year.  For most, it isn't about winning, it is about finishing.   

On Thursday we got a call at 10 pm wondering if we would be able to shoot the Cream Puff on Sunday.  This has been an event that I have been wanting to shoot since I have been taking photos.  Being sponsored to shoot the even made it possible to do it this year.  Thanks to the Cascade Cream Puff all medium resolution photos are free for non-commercial use. 

Waking up at 4 am is hard enough, but needing to be mentally cable of taking photos in less than idea light and conditions is a challenge.  Lasting another 13 hours to cover the whole event was insane.  Matt and I didn't even want to think about taking another photo or even looking at what we shot when the day was done. When we finally had the mental capability to look at the photos we were quite surprised that so many decent shots came out.  Click on the jump to see highlights. Or click here to see all of our photos from the day.

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Our photos have been posted from another great year of the Test of Endurance hosted by Mudslinger Events. Thanks to Mike Ripley and the gang for sponsoring us. All medium resolution images are free for people to use for personal use.

Although Mike moved the race back a couple of weeks in hopes to have a dry course, Mother Nature had other plans. The weather was typical for Oregon... if you don’t like it, wait 10 minutes and it will be something else. The rain may have made the trails slick, Mike and crew had cut new trails to make the course more interesting. To see a slideshow of highlights click on the jump.

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